Abstract
The success or failure of an organisation is significantly affected by its leadership and is
frequently misunderstood. A transformational leader who reacts to followers’ needs and
motivates them to greater heights is more likely to be successful than a leader who
responds to followers’ needs in a passive way. Transformational leadership engages the
leaders with their followers in a process that drives performance beyond the expectations
through four factors. These are idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual
stimulation, and individualised consideration. Factors of transformational leadership are
magnified through the investigation of employees’ motivation based on the psychological
needs of the theory of self-determination. Dealing with employees’ motivation through
transformational leadership proves to be an area that requires more research due to its
limited amount of information, especially in the Middle East.
Transformational leadership is particularly suitable in situations with a high level of
challenge and pertinent change, especially in dynamic environments. Bahrain
organisations are dealing with fundamental changes, new trends, and new discoveries,
particularly in the energy sector. Such changes have impacted on other industries and
have had an unfavourable impact on businesses. Considering these ongoing changes,
transformational leadership is seen as an effective approach for raising employee
motivation across all nations and cultures.
The emphasis of this study is to acquire a better and deeper insight into the fundamental
mechanism of transformational leadership and its effect on employee motivation. The
primary study issues are “What factors of transformational leadership are exhibited in
Bahrain’s oil and gas industries?” and “What relationship exists between transformational
leadership and employees’ motivation in Bahrain’s oil and gas sector?”. To respond to
these research questions, an investigation through three companies in Bahrain were
chosen as one case study. A convenience sampling technique was used to identify a
suitable research sample, which was composed of a survey of 316 employees and 15
leaders. Data was collected using a concurrent mixed method design, where a
quantitative method (questionnaires) was followed by a qualitative method (semistructured interviews), to allow and confirm different perspectives.
The findings revealed that there is a relationship between the practices of
transformational leadership and employee motivation in the Bahrain oil and gas sector. It
is also noted that the impact of transformational leadership factors on intrinsic motivation
are far greater than the extrinsic motivation.
The research offers substantial theoretical contributions by providing a better awareness
of the challenges of relationships faced inside organisations, especially within Bahrain's
oil and gas sector. It also offers a deeper understanding of how transformational
leadership can help to motivate employees. Furthermore, the new perspectives on
leadership contribute to the existing body of knowledge while also making a theoretical
contribution. The study's practical contribution is reflected in the suggested framework, in
the form of recommendations and significant suggestions for improvements that can be
made in Bahrain's oil and gas sector.